Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Decreases Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board decreased its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 11.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 677,343 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 90,387 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in American Express were worth $154,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,315 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. CIC Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. HTLF Bank lifted its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. HTLF Bank now owns 6,202 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $1,441,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of American Express by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on American Express from $221.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on American Express from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded American Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on American Express from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Express from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.70.

American Express Stock Up 2.4 %

American Express stock traded up $5.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $245.89. 2,174,459 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,695,599. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $174.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.21. American Express has a 1-year low of $140.91 and a 1-year high of $253.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $236.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $223.66.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The payment services company reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $16.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.60 billion. American Express had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 32.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Express will post 13.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Express’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total value of $829,500.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at $4,602,896.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Anna Marrs sold 3,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.93, for a total value of $829,500.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,932 shares in the company, valued at $4,602,896.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster sold 117,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.44, for a total transaction of $27,267,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 110,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,642,315.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 138,844 shares of company stock valued at $32,404,735. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.